Linkee-poo doesn't ask you about your business, don't ask me about mine

Today the semester's schedule is catching up to me. I'm walking dead on my feet. I apologize for all the typos I'm sure are in here, but it just makes me even more tired to think about proofing it one more time.

Because it's gaining buzz again, All Hallows Read.

Emma Thompson revives Peter Rabbit. The stories around Peter are one of the few things I remember being read to and reading early on. Love that rascal. (Pointed to by John)

Photos of writers hanging out together. As a veteran of barcons, this isn't surprising. But still interesting. Like Roald Dahl and Earnest Hemingway walking together. (Grokked from Joe Hill)

I haven't heard the audio of the performance, but this is what comics do. They take the pain in their lives and pass it through their internal forge to hammer out comedy. I've heard a few people talk about Tig Notaro's performance (in my various news feeds) and they're saying it's amazing. Here's a preview. Fuck cancer.

Boy Scouts accused of covering up for child sex abuse. I'm sure they have a reasonable answer why they didn't protect kids. Or they'll go with their number one answer for the past decade, "Look over there, gay people."

"I have watched my country accept, mostly quite complacently, along with a lower living standard for more and more people, a lower moral standard. A moral standard based on advertising. That hard-minded man Saul Bellow wrote that democracy is propaganda. It gets harder to argue with him when, for instance, during a campaign, not only aspirants to the presidency but the president himself hides or misrepresents known facts, lies deliberately and repeatedly. And only the opposition objects." Ursula K. LeGuin on how the country has changed just while she's been alive. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Rep. Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee a "pro-life, family-values congressman… (and) doctor before winning election as a Tea Party-backed Republican had an affair with a patient and later pressured her to get an abortion…" Ah, those good family values. And if abortion and fidelity in marriage were not issues brought up in the election and part of the GOP platform, he would be correct in saying that this isn't relevant to the election. Unfortunately they're both in the national GOP platform and part of Rep. DesJarlais' campaign. Unfortunately, this is an example of "for the Good People™, everything is blessed." Or to put it another way, many conservatives will brush this aside with the thoughts, "Well, he was doing what he had to do to try and save his family. But all those other underserving people, they're going right to hell for killing babies." And while it isn't as bad as psychologists dating patients, I have a feeling the medical board of Tennessee frowns on doctors dating patients as an breach of professional ethics. But, hey "No More Taxes!" Right? (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Think I'm being too harsh about or spinning the criticism of lying in public after telling your close supporters what you really think and winking and nodding to those supporters that what you're now saying in debate, to the press, in an open meeting or whatever isn't what you really believe? "… a spokeswoman for (Rep. Paul) Broun…tells CNN Broun will not comment on his remarks (about how embryology, evolution, and the Big Bang theory were 'lies straight from the pit of Hell.'). But she added that they weren't meant for public consumption and that Broun was 'speaking off the record to a large church group about his personal beliefs regarding religious issues.' The church group posted a publicly available video of his full speech on YouTube after the event." Yes, see, he wasn't speaking to you and me, he was speaking to his close friends in that church about his convictions regarding science. And just because the church then posted the video themselves doesn't mean that it was meant for "public consumption" (you can read that as, "wasn't meant for the dopes outside of the inner circle"). Wouldn't be so much of a problem if he didn't serve on the House Science Committee. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Or how about the conservative Congress which cut State Department security funds now decrying how security at the Libyan consulate (not the embassy) wasn't up to snuff? Not to mention the fog of war issues. And who was one of the lead attack dogs on cutting funding? Why, would that be Daryl Issa? Nah, couldn't be. EIther these conservative Congressmen are blithering idiots who have never lived in the real world, or they think we are. I started writing a full post on this last night but dumped it because my brain was so filled with contempt and loathing I could neither make it funny or pertinent. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Pointed to by many people, the PM of Australia standing to respond to charges of misogyny and sexism by and about a member brought by the Leader of the Opposition. I fully recommend it. This is what's known as "being taken to school on the issue."

How can you keep them down on the farm once they've seen Paris? More on the crack down on US Catholic Nuns and the walking back of Vatican II.

Gee, all those True the Vote people, they wouldn't be instructing their poll observers with false information, would they? I'm sure that's just a mistake. Because that would be potential vote tampering. And we all know conservatives would never do that.

"Mitt Romney doubled down… suggest(ing) that uninsured Americans can find the care they need in emergency rooms… people will always receive the treatment they need, and do not die or suffer because they can not pay for care." Frankly, I'm starting to think this is a part of moving people's attention away from his 47% comments. Because to be that fucking ignorant on a topic when it was the very impetus that drove him to push through Romneycare (the cost to the system for covering the uninsured through emergency room care) is just mind boggling. "Emergency rooms serve as a place of last resort, but 45,000 Americans still die every year because they lack health insurance, or one every 12 minutes… Hospitals may treat patients for emergency medical conditions… but patients with chronic conditions that don’t require emergency interference are often unable to access needed care." Seriously and truly folks, this is Scrooge saying, "Are there no work houses? Are there no prisons?" While I usually am of the mind that if the opposition gets in, at least they can't really fuck up the system. I have to take that off the table. We can't let this person get close to the levers of power. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

A little more on the performance of Massachusetts while Mitt Romney was governor. And let's see, that would be MA loosing jobs for the first year he was in office, and one of the lowest recovery rates in the country after that. Mmmm, let's have more of that, please. And speaking of more, even some conservatives are becoming a little leery of Romney's foreign policy he laid out in the VMI speech. Although, I'll admit a small bias on my part here. Working for a defense contractor, war is good for our bottom line. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Then there is the supporting proposed legislation that he has no idea what was in them. In this case criticizing President Obama for not supporting the Wyden-Bennett healthcare bill… which also had an individual mandate in it. Oopsie. But sure, you know, you may have gotten Bennett to vote for it, so it would have been bipartisan then, I guess. Oh, and then Sen. Bennet lost in the Republican primary for another go around in the Senate, because he supported universal health care legislation. And then there was Mitt's meeting with the Des Moines Register editorial board where he said he wouldn't advance abortion legislation. The anti-abortion people aren't worried. Of course they aren't worried. Again, he's assured them, and they figure he's now lying to the rest of us, which they feel is perfectly okay, so he can get elected. And then help appoint more ideologues to the Supreme Court that will reverse Roe v Wade.

Finally, Jon Stewart takes the Romney Ryan ticket to the woodshed. You should watch until the first commercial break. Look, what they're saying is just simply impossible. But as I've stated before, and above, they're just lying. The numbers don't add up, they're policies don't make sense, and basically they're not playing to or dealing with the reality based world.

Tweet of my heart: @Pres_Bartlet: Every time Mitt Romney speaks, I'm reminded that he is pretending not to understand the real problems facing our health care system.

Alligator Quotient: Apparently I've been faming them out to friends. Sorry about that. Just stamp them "return to sender" and they'll all come home. To roost or something.